397 Exhortation (2/2)
The insight offered by the incantation was not quite the same as the afterword of the Death Scripture. The latter had been painstakingly translated by Master Lianhua into Central Plains Chinese, and it explained that there were sixteen types of possible interpretations and methods of practicing the scripture. No matter which method one chose, one would have to kill to improve on it, and as one's powers increased, it would only be a matter of time before the effects backfired. The way to prevent it would be to decrease the rate of one's killing to only one per year.
The ideal solution would be to first master Wayless Qigong. Once one's Internal Strength had reached a certain level, one could mostly delay and reduce the effects of the swordcraft backfiring.
However, the incantation, which had ben passed down by the descendants of the Holy King for dozens of generations, believed that the backfiring had nothing to do with one's Internal Strength. Instead, what one required was the very vague theory of 'great wisdom'.
It was only a moment ago that Gu Shenwei felt that he could trust Shangguan Ru, but now, he could not help but feel that she was up to something.
The effect of Breaking Obsession on her was too great to be taken for granted, and she could have gotten the Blessed Child to add in a few paragraphs to convince the Dragon King and Maid Lotus to stop practicing the peerless and incredible Dajue Book of Swordcraft.
Gu Shenwei quickly scanned through Shangguan Ru's expression. His suspicion was quickly reduced - Shangguan Ru had never seen the Death Scripture before, and even if its afterword was also the beginning of the Wayless Book, she had only seen the original text of the latter, which was written in a strange and foreign language. She had never seen the translation before, and it was not really possible for her to even come up with a set of exhortations within the past two days.
The Blessed Child also did not look like he was acting on someone else's orders. He was only ten years of age and had grown up by the high priest's side. As such, he had not yet learned to lie and was as transparent as a clear stream of water in the eyes of the Dragon King.
”It doesn't matter,” Gu Shenwei thought. Even if the Death Scripture eventually turned its practitioners into demons, he would continue to practice it. Everyone on this earth had to pick their path in life, and only he was destined to walk on the path of death.
As for Maid Lotus, she was always inscrutable. Gu Shenwei had a real spiritual connection with her occasionally since both of them had chosen the path of death voluntarily.
The three of them remained silent for a while as no one was willing to begin a discussion about the deep meaning contained in the incantation.
Shangguan Ru was the first to speak up; she wanted to give Maid Lotus a gift. ”It's my mistake to plant a force inside your body. I'm extremely sorry about that. The only way to remove it is to use the Heart Stopping Finger of Seven Circles and Seven Apertures, but I can't bring myself to practice it, therefore please allow me to teach you.”
Visible surprise swept across Maid Lotus' expression before it vanished as quickly as it came. She was the Managing Master of the New Moon Hall and possessed superior Kung Fu; normally, anyone who had the opportunity to control her would never give it up easily.
”Tha... thanks,” said Maid Lotus somewhat unnaturally. She was not being ungrateful, but rather, she was not used to speaking words of such nature.
”I only have one request. I know that after learning the Heart Stopping Finger, you may have to kill. I hope that... whoever you kill deserves to die.”
There were thousands of people in this world that should be killed. In a sense, Maid Lotus completely believed that every life she took was justified; to her, even the maid whom she had killed just after shaking off the effects of Indra fragrance deserved to die.
Maid Lotus would not decieve Shangguan Ru with her words and therefore gave a straightforward reply, ”Those that I kill with the Heart Stopping Finger in future will be considered as bad people even by your standards.”
Gu Shenwei took his leave first; he was uninterested in Old Man Mu's Kung Fu. While Maid Lotus learned more techniques, he maintained his focus on the Death Scripture. Before leaving, he tried to convince Shangguan Ru to stay behind once more, ”There are still 50000 residents in the Land of Fragrance, and they are simple-minded and innocent; they've not been influenced by the outside world. As such, whoever rules over this land will determine the direction their character will develop. Think about it, I will leave tomorrow in the early morning.”
It was already past midnight when Shangguan Ru finished teaching all of the Heart Stopping Finger moves to Maid Lotus. But she felt restless and could not fall asleep.
When he heard that his sister invited the Dragon King over but had not discussed the 'very important matter' of taking over the Land of Fragrance, Shangguan Fei was extremely agitated. But he knew it was inappropriate to burst into his sister's room in the middle of the night. As such, he could only patiently wait till it was daybreak before coming to see his sister and find out what had happened last night.
”Sister, my good sister, Father wants us dead and Mother can't save us. Now, we only have each other to rely on for help. Even if you don't want to think about your future, spare a thought for me. If you don't agree to stay, the Dragon King will never agree to let me remain behind alone. He will bring me into battle, and it will be against the Stone Castle. Look at me, I can't possibly be a soldier. Do you know how much I've suffered over the past few months? I really cannot take it any longer...”
”Go inform the Dragon King that I'm willing to stay behind.”
Shangguan Fei jumped up in delight.
”But I have some conditions. The Land of Fragrance will not become a base of provisions for the Great Snowmountain. I will not interfere if any of the 50000 residents decide to work for the Dragon King, but I will never organize them to transport supplies to the Great Snowmountain.”
”About this, isn't it a little too early to be setting such conditions?”
”That's all I have to say,” replied Shangguan Ru, stubbornly sticking to her decision.
It was just as well, Shangguan Fei thought. The Dragon King obviously still harbored some feelings for his sister, and he might agree to the conditions. He thought that it was only a matter of time before the Land of Fragrance isolated itself from the outside world, and if they cut off ties with the Great Snowmountain at an early stage, they would need not have to worry about doing so later.
Gu Shenwei and Maid Lotus had already packed up their belongings and were preparing to set off when Shangguan Fei came bearing his sister's message to them. Dragon King came to see Shangguan Ru personally and agreed to her conditions. There were still dozens of soldiers from the Great Snowmountain, loyal to him, who remained behind in the Land of Fragrance. They would arrange the logistics themselves and there was no need for Shangguan Ru to interfere.
It was time for them to part. Unexpectedly, both of them were calm. Previously, they had no idea that they had been walking on separate paths for far too long, but the past few months together had made it evident, showing them that they were clearly moving in different directions after all.
”Bring my brother along with you. He's the first person that the Land of Fragrance does not welcome,” she said, making her final request.